Journey to Jo'burg: A South African Story

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Beverley Naidoo (a white child) got a vaccine against diphteria, the children of the woman helping her family did not get this chance. So the pair bravely decide to walk to their mother who works as a housekeeper and nanny in the big city, Johannesburg. It has prompted some lively discussions as well as provided a strong platform for engaging literacy lessons and cross curricular activities for half a term. Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children.

When my daughter told me about a book titled journey to jo'burg that she started reading at school in their book club, I was immediately interested in the story. The children's mother, Mma, lives and works in Johannesburg most of the year because it is the only place where she can find work to support her children.She married a man from Indian descent: their union would have been ”a crime” under the apartheid laws (I'm guessing like Trevor Noah's parents'). I read this book with my year 5 class in a multicultural school, who were shocked and amazed that such discrimination against people based on race happened so recently. This book also helps readers to learn more about history as it is told through the characters' story. During the journey, they become aware of the harsh realities of apartheid; facing danger and prejudice. Frightened that their baby sister Dineo will die, thirteen-year-old Naledi and her younger brother Tiro run away from their grandmother to Johannesburg to find their mother, who works there as a maid.

Finally, although Journey to Jo'burg was penned in 1986 and Apartheid was officially abolished as a South African government policy in the 1990s, the fight for racial equality very much continues in South Africa. Grace helps them find their mother’s workplace and offers them a place to spend the night in Soweto. This was a brilliant read and a great introduction to children in KS2 about life in South Africa for black people, the Apartheid and segregation. They discover it is not a simple journey as they encounter some of the dangers living in their apartheid but meeting some friendly people along the way help them to reach their mother.Journey to Jo'burg: A South African Story, written by Beverley Naidoo , is about the journey a brother and sister, Naledi and Tiro, have to take to Johannesburg to try and find there mother as the little sister has become ill. so simple and straightforward that it makes accessible even to quite young children the difficult and the profound. They are successful in finding their mother, who is able to get her youngest to a doctor in time to save her life.

Summary: A short, but engrossing journey of two siblings Naledi and Tiro, who journey from Johannesburg to Jo'Burg because their baby sister has become very ill. Reading the class reader for year 6, this is a good book to start the conversation on what segregation is and to help kids to be deeper thinkers - i think the teacher says for them to be introspective. After going with a friend to a restaurant in Frankfurt, even though it was raining like crazy, it did not stop me from going to Oxfam, where I did behave: I only got this one book (1 euro).To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Naledi and Tiro are exposed to the fear of violence for “non whites” underlying the discrimination when they unknowingly attempt to board a bus for white people and witness a pass raid at a train station where they see the cruel treatment of black people at the hands of the police. Their mother works far away in Johannesburg and their father died from a disease caught in the mines. The opulent house of the white “Madam’s” for whom their mother works is a stark contrast with their own appalling reality and the realisation that their baby sister is dying from starvation not an incurable disease. There is really nice character development and vivid imagery which lends itself to readers creating drawings or paintings, allowing them to interpret their own parts of the book.

Ah, I went to Oxfam again yesterday and got Born A Crime, Trevor Noah (3 euro, excellent condition). I will recommend this book to any young reader and not forgetting older ones who would be able to learn about hardships non whites were facing.Both the truck driver and Grace take responsibility for the children’s well being once they come in contact with them. The wealth was all in the hands of the 'Whites', while the labour was done by the 'Blacks' who worked long hours for little pay and lived under apalling conditions. But it's worth all the extra work because the story has so much depth and complexity and kids will enjoy learning and talking about this. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This is the story of love, commitment and the flowering of the human spirit against the background of South Africa's apartheid.